Foot mat for vehicles

ABSTRACT

A foot mat of elastomeric material for vehicles, said mat having honeycomb or alveolar cells disposed in a slanting or inclined arrangement with respect to the base of the mat, with the cross section of each of the cells increasing from the bottom upwardly towards its upper open end.

United States Patent Hubel {45] Apr. 11, 1972 [54] FOOT MAT FOR VEHICLES [72] Inventor: Otto llubel, Hamburg, Germany [56] References Cned 73 Assignee: Dupol-Rubbermaid GmbH Fabrik fur UNYTED STATES PATENTS Gummi-und Kunststo g 1,875,399 9/1932 Woller ..74/563 Drelelchenham, An der Tnft, Germany 1,182,579 5/1916 Mason [22] Filed: 3, 1970 1,483,945 2/1924 Koehn ..74/563 [21] Appl. No.: 60,364 Primary ExaminerLeon G. Machlin Attorney-Hamilton, Renner & Kenner [30] Foreign Application Priority Data [57] ABSTRACT 1969 Germany 19 39 71,61 A foot mat of elastomeric material for vehicles, said mat having honeycomb or alveolar cells disposed in a slanting or [52] U.S. Cl ..l5/215, 296/] F inclined arrangement with respect to the base of the mat with [51] Int. Cl ..B62d 25/20 the cross section of each f the cells i in from the [58] Field of Search ..15/215, 216, 217; 296/1 F; tom upwardly towards its upper open 6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEBAPR 11 I972 3.654.657

INVENT OR OWBEL ATTORNEY FOOT MAT FOR VEHICLES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Known foot mats for vehicles have alveolar cells. The cells are more or less merely hinted. Their profile therefore is only a few millimeters deep, and they are arranged vertical to the mat base. Accordingly, they can store dirt or water only a little, and both kinds of pollution get quickly down from the mat onto the car floor, which means, besides being ugly, a danger of rusting.

In order to avoid these disadvantages it has already been suggested to arrange the cells slantingly to the mat base, while the depth of the cells amounts to 7 to 25 mm and their width preferably amounts to a clearance of to 10 mm, while the slant of the cells in relation to the mat base is preferably about 45L It was aimed by arranging the cells slantingly, to hide accumulated dirt, sand or water from the sight of the passengers in the vehicle, as the visual angle is directed towards the slant of the cells. The opposite walls of each individual cell are in parallel planes to each other.

However, foot mats of this construction have shown to be disadvantageous, especially in winter. As generally known, foot mats for vehicles are particularly necessary in the wintertime, because in most cases it is inevitable that, from the shoes of the passengers, snow, ice, mud and dirt mixed therewith gets into the inner of the car.

These pollutions are stored in the cells when using the aforesaid foot mats and freeze therein, so that they can be removed out of the cells only by warming the mat and thawing the frozen content of the cells. Furthermore it has shown to be disadvantageous that pollutions which have been tamped in the cells, and can only be removed with special efforts, e.g., by troublesome soaking and the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to avoid these disadvantages. Furthermore it is an object of the invention to improve hiding the content of the cells from the sight of users while at the same time to diminish the height of the cells and the mat, and accordingly, to save material needed for the mat.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT According to the invention it is suggested that the cross section of the alveolar cells formed by the walls increases from the bottom towards the opening of the cells. The form of the alveolar cells is moreover optional. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the towards opening increasing alveolar cells are formed to build a reverse truncated pyramid. The thickness of the walls between adjoining alveolar cells increases according to a preferred embodiment from the cell opening towards the bottom, preferably in proportion to about 1 up to about 3 mm per 1 cm height of a cell wall.

The depth of the alveolar cells should preferably correspond at least to the width of the cell opening. The depth amounts preferably to about 5 to mm, while the width of the cell opening may be somewhat smaller than the depth of the alveolar cell.

To hide the content of the cells still better from the sight of users, the slant in relation to the mat base is preferably more than 451, up to about 67.5Lfrom the vertical (perpendicular line to the mat, vide FIG. 2).

The foot mat according to the invention can be used either as a foot mat for vehicles but can as well be employed otherwise in household, business or ofiice.

When the cells of the mat being in use are filled with ice, frozen mud or tamped dirt, they can easily be emptied by turning and deflecting the mat with the openings of the cells towards the ground, so that ice, dirt, etc. get loose and fall down.

By the augmented slant of cell-arrangement in relation to the mat base, the content stored in the alveolar cells is still better hidden from the sight of users. This arrangement also allows a reduction of the t ickness of the alveolar cells, so that the thickness of the mat is reduced. At the same time the desired saving of material is achieved. While the thickness of the mat according to prior art amounted to e.g. about 10 mm to store dirt invisibly in the alveolar cells, according to the invention a substantially thinner mat of about e.g. 5 mm thickness is sufficient.

The slant of the alveolar cells can be augmented or diminished according to the purpose of employment. The more slanting the piston of the cells, the better the content of the alveolar cells will be hidden from sight. Experiments have shown that a slant of a bout 67.5Lis particularly advantageous.

The drawing illustrates the invention. FIG. 1 shows a schematic section of the foot mat according to the invention. FIG. 2 illustrates the angular degree of the slant of the cells from the vertical to the base of the mat. FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic illustration of a cell, the walls of which form an alveolar chamber like a truncated pyramid and illustrates the increase of the cross section of the alveolar cell from the bottom towards the opening of the cell.

The foot mat should always be used with the cells inclined so as to turn the openings of the cells away from the user. The foot mat can store a considerable amount of ice, mud or other dirt, without such being visible.

lclaim:

1. Foot mat made of one of the elastomers such as rubber, plastics or the like comprising upwardly open alveolar cells being slantingly arranged towards the mat base, characterised in that the cross section of the alveolar cells increases from the bottom towards the opening of the cells and the slant of the alveolar cells in relation to the mat base is from about 45Lup to about 67.5Lfrom the perpendicular to the base.

2. Foot mat according to claim 1, characterised in that the walls of the cells form truncated pyramid-like alveolar cells.

3. Foot mat according to claim 1, characterised in that the thickness of the walls of the cells between adjoining alveolar cells increases from the cell opening towards the cell bottom proportional to about 1 up to about 3 mm per 1 cm of height of the wall of a cell.

4. Foot mat according to claim 1 characterised in that the depth of the alveolar cells corresponds at least to the width of the cell opening.

5. Foot mat according to claim 1 characterised in that the depth of the alveolar cells amounts to about 5 to 25 mm.

6. Foot mat according to claim 1 characterised in that the width of the cell openings is smaller than the depth of the cell chambers.

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORREQTION Patent'No. },'?}i, 65? Dated April 11, 91

InventOr(S) ItttiO Ell b6].

It is certified that error appears in theabove-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 16 "L151," should read L45 column 2, line 1, l SL" and "67.513" should read 14.5 and 67.5 line 23 "piston" should read position line 25, "67.513" should read 67.5 line hL "L -ZL" should read I L line Lgb, "67.51 should read 75 sign-ad 612.0 sealed this 19th day of December 1912.

SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCImLK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents FORM PO'WSO (10459) r USCOMM-DC 60376-P69 I V U.S GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: l9, O-B l-Jl, 

1. Foot mat made of one of the elastomers such as rubber, plastics or the like comprising upwardly open alveolar cells being slantingly arranged towards the mat base, characterised in that the cross section of the alveolar cells increases from the bottom towards the opening of the cells and the slant of the alveolar cells in relation to the mat base is from about 45* up to about 67.5* from the perpendicular to the base.
 2. Foot mat according to claim 1, characterised in that the walls of the cells form truncated pyramid-like alveolar cells.
 3. Foot mat according to claim 1, characterised in that the thickness of the walls of the cells between adjoining alveolar cells increases from the cell opening towards the cell bottom proportional to about 1 up to about 3 mm per 1 cm of height of the wall of a cell.
 4. Foot mat according to claim 1 characterised in that the depth of the alveolar cells corresponds at least to the width of the cell opening.
 5. Foot mat according to claim 1 characterised in that the depth of the alveolar cells amounts to about 5 to 25 mm.
 6. Foot mat according to claim 1 characterised in that the width of the cell openings is smaller than the depth of the cell chambers. 